A delegation of Russian Railways led by Company First Vice President Alexander Misharin has taken part in the international conference Railway Business at Transit Speeds, which was organised by the Coordinating Council for Trans-Siberian Transport as part of the Transport Logistic 2017 conference held in Munich in Germany.

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The conference was also attended by representatives from international transport organisations, rail and logistics companies and the expert community from fifteen countries.

The event's main theme was the development of the East-West International Transport Corridor (ITC) and the Trans-Siberian Railway as the basis for a global supply chain.

As the participants in the discussion noted, the volume of foreign trade carried by container shipments between the largest markets of Europe and Asia is increasing by an average of 11% annually. Increasing amounts of transit freight have been attracted to rail routes recently.

"In 2016, we increased the volume of container traffic by more than 30% and doubled the volume of the transit trade between China and Europe," said Alexander Misharin in his speech.

Such results were achieved thanks to regular scheduled container trains, the expansion of the transportation geography between China-Europe-China using the Trans-Siberian railway and the development of the transport and logistics business of Russian Railways.

Subsidiaries of the RZD Holding – the logistics company GEFCO, the United Transport and Logistics Company, and RZD Logistics – apply flexible price conditions, depending on the transportation volumes, and are constantly improving the technology of freight delivery.

An additional impetus to the development of container transportation along the East-West ITC in the near future will come from the further development of electronic document management.

Thus, since 1 May 2017, Chinese Railways have joined the project for the CIM/SMGS electronic consignment note for that part of container trains which runs between China and European countries.

Russian Railways is currently working with Chinese Railways to prepare a new agreement on electronic data exchange, which will allow the preliminary declaration of container shipments dispatched from China to Russia and third countries. This will also increase the volume of transit traffic.

Within the framework of the conference, experts also discussed the prerequisites for attracting from aviation to the land routes across the Eurasian continent part of e-commerce freight, whose annual volume in 2016 amounted to $2 trillion.

"We can use the new opportunities of high-speed rail transport by combining the high-speed network in China and Europe, whereby the land stretch of all traffic flows could reach 15%," said Alexander Misharin. He recalled that currently, the development of the high-speed Moscow-Beijing transport corridor, coupled with the economic belt of the Silk Road, is ongoing.

Within the framework of the conference, experts also discussed the prerequisites for attracting from aviation to the land routes across the Eurasian continent part of e-commerce freight, whose annual volume in 2016 amounted to $2 trillion.

Together with international partners, the RZD Holding is completing the preparation of project documentation for the construction of the high-speed railway on the Moscow-Kazan section, which is an integral part of the Eurasian transport corridor.

In addition, a high-speed freight train with a payload of up to 600 tons and capable of speeds of up to 300 kph is being developed with the participation of international experts.

On the implementation of these projects, delivery times for goods dispatched from China to Europe can be reduced to 3 days.

"The future of rail transportation, especially on long-distance transcontinental routes, largely depends on the coordination of efforts at the international level," Alexander Misharin stressed.